UT Professor advocates 90% population reduction

[Jerk]

by airborne ebola!

http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues_2006/2006-04-07/feature1p/index.html

Why doesn't he volunteer to help save the planet and eat a bullet?

[olevetonahill]

I vote :texan: s go 1st ;)

[SicEmBaylor]

I advocate a 90% reduction in the population of UT.

[Half a Hundred]

I advocate a 90% reduction in the population of UT.

You big softie... :mack:

[King Crimson]

I suspect the keyword here is "evolutionary" scientist....just a guess.

[OKC-SLC]

I advocate a 90% reduction in the population of UT.
that's a good start.

[Okla-homey]

Don't you just love naturists who feel the best thing for Mother Earth is to have all us humans die? What a tool.

[SoonerInKCMO]

Meh. I've had similar thoughts when stuck in traffic whilst driving to work in the mornings. :texan:

[OUAndy1807]

it wouldn't hurt my feelings if like 90% of the people were gone, as long as I wasn't one of them.

[AlbqSooner]

Sounds like a modest proposal.

[Ike]

there are certainly days where I believe it would be nice to not have to deal with 90% of the people I deal with. But Ebola isn't how I would want that taken care of. I'd much rather they just turn invisible and inaudible spontaneously.

[Okla-homey]

it wouldn't hurt my feelings if like 90% of the people were gone, as long as I wasn't one of them.

The succy part would be life as we know it would end long before the 90% checked-out, so it prolly wouldn't be much fun to be in the "lucky" 10%.

[Desert Sapper]

'evolutionary ecologist and lizard expert'

The fact that they have one of these at saxet contributes greatly to my theory that anyone that is currently attending or has ever attended or taught at that University should spontaneously combust within the next 6 months, eliminating 90% of all sphincter lesions on the planet.

[Chuck Bao]

This guy is nutso!

No way that's acceptable unless they have a vaccine for the "right" 10% to survive.

And, shouldn't they, at least, wait until robots can make their clothes and shoes and cars and houses and golf clubs and stuff?

[OklahomaTuba]

Wow.

And to think nutjobs like this get paid for this crap.

[Desert Sapper]

Didn't Ted Kaszinski (sp?) get paid to do the 'professor' thing for a while? Wonder if this guy has some ebola in his basement?

[Dio]

Is he volunteering to go first?

[caphorns]

nm

[Scott D]

I like Ike's idea, except the people spontaneously combust into Ozone to save the atmosphere, and most importantly I get to select who lives :D

[soonerscuba]

Just to play somewhat of a devil's advocate here, and I think this guy is crazy, but which professor is responsible for more death, Dr. Pianka or Dr. Rice?

Just sayin'.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Hmmm. Does he want the remaining 10% to look like him?

http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues_2006/2006-04-07/feature1p/images/fig1.jpg

[caphorns]

Hmmm. Does he want the remaining 10% to look like him?


Santa?

[crawfish]

He needs a 90% waist reduction.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Look, this is what being a professor at UT since 1968 has done to this guy. He's so into studying reptiles and "ecology", that he forgot about humans. He also forgot about the importance of hygiene.

Here's an interesting note, not uncommon to cult idiots like this: He's all for proposing mass death to billions, but hasn't yet volunteered to take the first step himself. Hypocritical to the end.

He reminds me of Saddam Hussein, claiming he'd fight until the end. His sons and grandsons die in fire fight with U.S. Marines, and where is he? Cowering in a spider hole hundreds of miles aways.

[caphorns]

He needs a 90% waist reduction.

Looks like he's not too bothered by that bit of wasteful consumption. I guess he sh!ts lizard food or something.

[Stoop Dawg]

What this nimrod fails to understand is that humans are a part of nature. We're not some beings from outer space who invaded and destroyed the planet. We're from here. Any evolutionary scientist must know about survival of the fittest. Unfortunately for the lizards, humans are the fittest. Sorry, Charley.

If at some point the Earth really does become overpopulated, I'm sure Mother Nature will deal with it. This guy thinking that he is smarter than nature is quite arrogant, and quite laughable.

[FaninAma]

Just to play somewhat of a devil's advocate here, and I think this guy is crazy, but which professor is responsible for more death, Dr. Pianka or Dr. Rice?

Just sayin'.

You are a one tune juke box and the record is getting A BIT ANNOYING.

Actually, I think Dr. Rice's actions will result in a net savings of life unless you think Saddam Hussein was a benevolent friend to all who lived in his country.

[FaninAma]

Hmmm. Does he want the remaining 10% to look like him?

http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues_2006/2006-04-07/feature1p/images/fig1.jpg

That guy should be the poster boy for UT. What a freaking waste of skin.

[GDC]

What this nimrod fails to understand is that humans are a part of nature. We're not some beings from outer space who invaded and destroyed the planet. We're from here. Any evolutionary scientist must know about survival of the fittest. Unfortunately for the lizards, humans are the fittest. Sorry, Charley.

If at some point the Earth really does become overpopulated, I'm sure Mother Nature will deal with it. This guy thinking that he is smarter than nature is quite arrogant, and quite laughable.

Actually microbes, and even other animals such as insects would have to be considered more evolutionarily fit.

[Tear Down This Wall]

What this nimrod fails to understand is that humans are a part of nature. We're not some beings from outer space who invaded and destroyed the planet. We're from here. Any evolutionary scientist must know about survival of the fittest. Unfortunately for the lizards, humans are the fittest. Sorry, Charley.

If at some point the Earth really does become overpopulated, I'm sure Mother Nature will deal with it. This guy thinking that he is smarter than nature is quite arrogant, and quite laughable.

Anyone who's driven from Los Angeles to Dallas via the Zion National Park knows that we are nowhere near "overpopulated." When they're shoehorning people into Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, and the like, then I'll get excited about overpopulation.

For the love of pizza, ya'll, Wyoming has about 500,000 and run a $2 billion budget surplus! Maybe these academic types should stop spending so much time squinting at lizards and such and start looking at the places on the planet where people aren't screwing up...like in Wyoming. Wee-hee-hoo! Viva Wyoming!

http://wyoming.gov/images/header3b.jpg

[mdklatt]

Anyone who's driven from Los Angeles to Dallas via the Zion National Park knows that we are nowhere near "overpopulated."

Did you see a lot food production or water resources along the way? I'm sure you realize that overpopulation has very little to do with available space.

[OklahomaTuba]

Just to play somewhat of a devil's advocate here, and I think this guy is crazy, but which professor is responsible for more death, Dr. Pianka or Dr. Rice?

Just sayin'.

How timely...


Ronald Hilton estimates that, over the 24 years of Saddam Hussein's rule, about 600,000 people were killed by the Iraqi government. Now, maybe I ain't all that good at cipherin', but by my math, if you assume that Saddam Hussein was in power for 24 years (8,646 days, including leap years), and 600,000 people were executed during that time, you come up with an average of 69.4 people a day executed by Saddam Hussein's regime. That doesn't, by the way, include the 1,000,000 or so Iraqis who died during Mr. Hussein's wars of aggression against Iran or Kuwait. That's just executions.

So, (the) argument, essentially, is that Iraqis were better off when they had a tranquil public life with 70 people being bumped off by their own government every day, than they are now with 13 people dying in sectarian violence each day. Nevermind that, at the current rate, it will take 126 years for the daily death toll in Iraq to equal the death toll under Saddam Hussein. It just feels really unsafe.

And, frankly, Iraq is really unsafe. But it's a fundamentally different kind of threat that existed under Saddam. Now the threat is overt violence; easily seen, and easily identified. Under Saddam Hussein, the threat was far more subtle. Your neighbors merely disappeared in the middle of the night, with hardly a ripple to mark their passing." -- Dale Frankshttp://www.qando.net/details.aspx?Entry=3652

Seems your analysis is more than just a little "off".

[1stTimeCaller]

Did you see a lot food production or water resources along the way? I'm sure you realize that overpopulation has very little to do with available space.

Do you think the world is overpopulated? On the verge?

[Tear Down This Wall]

Did you see a lot food production or water resources along the way? I'm sure you realize that overpopulation has very little to do with available space.

Yes, there were ranches all over the f'n place. And, those pesky mountains are filled with water 'n' such...especially when the snow melts! If I'm ever driving out West and see suburbanization in those far away places, I'll be worried. Now, not so much.

Here's the problem - the cities with the most liberal benefit for the poor attract 'em like flies. Ever wonder why folk would like in crappy parts of big cities instead of going to wonderful Wyoming? It's 'cuz Wyoming's having none of it! None! You live in Wyoming, you better be ready to get off your butt and work, bruthah! That's one honest to goodness "Nobody Rides For Free" state! Viva Wyoming!

http://www.yagersoft.com/photog/hires/SW%20Wyoming.jpg

A picture of Wyoming's lack of overpopulation, chillun.

[mdklatt]

Do you think the world is overpopulated? On the verge?

Not necessarily, but it's silly to argue that it's not because there's still open space in Wyoming. There's a big reason there aren't many people in the West--there ain't enough water. Hell, you lived in Colorado--what's the biggest growing pain there? If global warming creates more extreme precipitation events--more flash flooding and longer droughts--the water situation will get worse. There is already evidence of an accelerated water cycle.

[1stTimeCaller]

I dunno, I'm a dumas. I remember folks talking about Steve Wynn taking their water for his waterfall in Vegas, peeing on some chick's carpet, gettin' busted for driving drunk and seeing a white guy with dreads riding a unicycle walking his dog, other than that, Denver was a blur.

[Stoop Dawg]

Not necessarily, but it's silly to argue that it's not because there's still open space in Wyoming. There's a big reason there aren't many people in the West--there ain't enough water. Hell, you lived in Colorado--what's the biggest growing pain there? If global warming creates more extreme precipitation events--more flash flooding and longer droughts--the water situation will get worse. There is already evidence of an accelerated water cycle.

So you're saying that nature will take care of overpopulation concerns? I agree.

[Penguin]

E-BOL-A!
E-BOL-A!
E-BOL-A!
E-BOL-A!
E-BOL-A!
E-BOL-A!
E-BOL-A!
E-BOL-A!
E-BOL-A!
E-BOL-A!

[mdklatt]

So you're saying that nature will take care of overpopulation concerns?

Yes, but I'm worried that I might be inconvenienced in the meantime.

[Penguin]

I am a new Ebola Disciple and I want to subscribe to his newsletter.


Die, mother****ers! Die!

[Sooner98]

WTF?!?!11


Pianka received an enthusiastic and prolonged standing ovation. Later he received more applause from a banquet hall filled with more than 400 people when the president of the Texas Academy of Science presented him with a plaque naming him 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist.

Why are there hundreds of people out there who apparently agree with what this waste of oxygen is saying?

[Ike]

I know a lot of you probably will not take this seriously, but I'm going to post it anyways. I suspect that this `reporter` took the prof slightly out of context. From the profs website, he holds the opinion that the earth is grossly overpopulated by humans. this is a perfectly OK opinion to hold (although he does not seem to present any hard evidence that we are at a point of highly dangerous overpopulation). He also notes that diseases like Ebola do wind up killing 90% of the people they infect. pretty gruesomely too. His hypothesis appears to be that if the governments of the world do not do anything to address the issue of growing overpopulation, then before long, diseases like ebola probably will, and in a manner that we probably won't like. He reasons that ebola will become airborne, naturally, faster than we can develop a cure/vaccine for it due to the rapid evolutionary cycle of viruses and bacteria.

I imagine that he gave a talk intended to scare the **** out of people because if one really believes that such overpopulation will make it inevetible for such a virus to quickly traverse the globe and wreak havoc all over the damn place, well, thats kind of something you want to make sure you get peoples attention with.


me personally, yeah, I think he is a little nuts. But I think people who advocate population control are a little nuts, but thats an opinion they are entitled to have. BUT, I also think that there is a shred of truth to what he is saying, which is that with the world getting more populous, and 'shrinking' every day, the dangers of airborne diseases like Ebola, should it evolve that way, are HUGE. I think that his position is that to defend against it/limit its effects, population control is nessecary. My position would be much different, but probably just as difficult to implement.

anyway, I'm just posting this to remind y'all that there very well might be another side to this story that nobody is really hearing about.

[Desert Sapper]

I think the hardest thing to swallow is that this guy places his precious lizards in a position above human beings. He doesn't acknowledge our place in the food chain. Whether or not he truly advocates killing off 90% of the people on the planet, it does seem fairly easy to make that deduction from his writings and his transcribed speeches. I can't say that I would go to one of his speeches even if it were more easy for me to do so. I may agree with him about our rapidly growing population, but I can't even come close to drawing the same conclusions. It's possible that nature may take care of the problem on its own, but to even suggest that we need to 'do something' like kill off 90% of our people is insane. It's very much on the level of the Unibomber's feelings about technology. I think we all know about the actions that he took. I certainly hope the FBI has this guy on a watch list.

[Ike]

I think the hardest thing to swallow is that this guy places his precious lizards in a position above human beings. He doesn't acknowledge our place in the food chain. Whether or not he truly advocates killing off 90% of the people on the planet, it does seem fairly easy to make that deduction from his writings and his transcribed speeches. I can't say that I would go to one of his speeches even if it were more easy for me to do so. I may agree with him about our rapidly growing population, but I can't even come close to drawing the same conclusions. It's possible that nature may take care of the problem on its own, but to even suggest that we need to 'do something' like kill off 90% of our people is insane. It's very much on the level of the Unibomber's feelings about technology. I think we all know about the actions that he took. I certainly hope the FBI has this guy on a watch list.

see, I don't know if advocates going right out and killing people or not, or if say, he'd prefer to see limits placed on human procreation. "do something" could mean a whole lot of things. And it's fine that you, and many others, don't draw the same conclusions. This is what academic freedom means. He's free to go off and say that we are to the point that we need to 'do something' before "IT"(whatever that means) is too late, and we are free to say, no, I see the same data, and I don't think we need to be this drastic.

My point being that sometimes the really important problems (not saying that this is, but it could be) sometimes never get discussed at all until someone poses a very radical solution, or a very disturbing scenario.

[Desert Sapper]

My point being that sometimes the really important problems (not saying that this is, but it could be) sometimes never get discussed at all until someone poses a very radical solution, or a very disturbing scenario.

I see your point, but usually radical personalities tend to cloud over the very point they are trying to make by allowing their emotions to get in the way. If he were to write something sound about overpopulation and write it in a simple way to his congressman, it might actually see some contemplation. As it is, his ideas and he personally will continue to be ridiculed by people (probably the majority) that don't necessarily see the need for any drastic message. Essentially, if he does want something to happen about overpopulation, he's damaging his own cause more than helping it.

[GDC]

We should be more worried about smallpox, influenza, AIDS, and malaria than Ebola.

[Desert Sapper]

We should be more worried about smallpox, influenza, AIDS, and malaria than Ebola.

Unless, of course, some egomaniacal Whorn nut job with a lizard fetish decides to unleash a strain of Airborne Ebola on us to 'save the environment'.

[FaninAma]

see, I don't know if advocates going right out and killing people or not, or if say, he'd prefer to see limits placed on human procreation. "do something" could mean a whole lot of things. And it's fine that you, and many others, don't draw the same conclusions. This is what academic freedom means. He's free to go off and say that we are to the point that we need to 'do something' before "IT"(whatever that means) is too late, and we are free to say, no, I see the same data, and I don't think we need to be this drastic.

My point being that sometimes the really important problems (not saying that this is, but it could be) sometimes never get discussed at all until someone poses a very radical solution, or a very disturbing scenario.

Well, if he's saying some people shouldn't be allowed to procreate then I agree. Personally, I'd start with UT fans and anybody who was stupid enough to vote for Ted Kennedy or Nancy Pelosi.

[skycat]

Unless, of course, some egomaniacal Whorn nut job with a lizard fetish decides to unleash a strain of Airborne Ebola on us to 'save the environment'.

The thing abouit Ebola is that it's just too damn efficient a killer to be much of a threat to become a pandemic.

Its incubation period is short. That doesn't give much hope to those that contract it, but it limits the exposure of the population in a manner that leads to outbreaks that are containable.

[Desert Sapper]

The thing abouit Ebola is that it's just too damn efficient a killer to be much of a threat to become a pandemic.

Its incubation period is short. That doesn't give much hope to those that contract it, but it limits the exposure of the population in a manner that leads to outbreaks that are containable.

I disagree. It's precisely the short incubation period that would make a pandemic very difficult to control. Ebola ravages central Africa in regions because of the limited transportation. This country is so well-networked, by the time they realized what it was, half the country would be infected and a quarter would be dead. To tell the truth, its this very scenario that scares me the most.

[skycat]

I disagree. It's precisely the short incubation period that would make a pandemic very difficult to control. Ebola ravages central Africa in regions because of the limited transportation. This country is so well-networked, by the time they realized what it was, half the country would be infected and a quarter would be dead. To tell the truth, its this very scenario that scares me the most.

Think about the total number of deaths if the mortality rate was the same, but the incubation period was several weeks, or several months. It would go up exponentially.

Ebola outbreaks are extremely deadly. An airborne version, if it ever did evolve, would be moreso. But it would burn far too hot to challenge AIDS, to give one good example, as a killer in Africa.

[caphorns]

Unless, of course, some egomaniacal Whorn nut job with a lizard fetish decides to unleash a strain of Airborne Ebola on us to 'save the environment'.

If you think about it, as the world becomes exponentially more populus, the odds of there being enough nut job's around the globe to pull off this kind of thing go up exponentially ;)

[Herr Scholz]

nm

[GDC]

Smartest thing you ever said.